I Can't Sleep
by Theeubernoob
Summary: Ruby asks Blake to read to her despite being told the story is scary, causing problems for the rest of the team.


"Whatchya reading?" A flash of read appeared beside Blake, staring at the book in her hands.

"A short story." She answered, her eyes never leaving the page.

"What's it about?"

"I don't know yet, I've only just started it."

Ruby perked up. "Can you read it to me?"

"I'm not sure you'd like it. It's not really up your alley."

"Please? Yang hasn't read to me in for ever." She began to pout.

"I read to you like three weeks ago." Yang poked her head down from her bunk.

"From a take out menu!" Ruby pushed the blonde back up and immediately went back to showing Blake her impression of an injured kitten.

The dark haired Faunus sighed. "Alright, but I'm warning you that it's going to be scary."

"I've seen plenty of scary moves. Plus I hunter monsters, I doubt a story is going to scare me." She huffed out her chest.

"Alright, but I warned you." She cleared her throat. "The Picture in the House: Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. For them are the of Ptolemais, and the carven mausolea of the nightmare countries..."

* * *

"_And_ bringing the oblivion which alone saved my mind." She shut the book and looked at Ruby.

The young huntress sat hugging a pillow, a look of terror etched across her face. Blake silently shook her head.

"I told you it would be scary."

"I-I-I'm not scared!" Ruby yelled, still clutching the pillow to her chest. Yang laughed from the bunk above them.

"You totally are." The blonde's head appeared again, plastered with a grin.

"Am not!" The redhead swung the pillow she had be clutching at her sister.

Yang dodged it by pulling her head back up. She then swung a pillow down at Ruby. "Are too!"

The battle continued for a minute until Blake was finally hit by an errant pillow.

"Do you two seriously have to do this on _my_ bed?" She grabbed the pillow Ruby had been using and placed it with the rest.

"Do you have to do it at all?" Weiss said, sounding more annoyed than usual. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

"Exactly, now Ruby, can I please have my bed back?"

Ruby stood up and returned to her bed, but left the 'curtain' open. "G-Goodnight." She shakily said as she pulled her sheets up to her neck.

"Good night." Blake said as she adjusted.

"G'night." Yang dozily replied.

Silence.

"Weiss?" Ruby quietly asked, an element of panic to her voice.

"I'm trying to sleep." Came the irritated reply from bellow her.

"Y-you didn't say good night."

An audible sigh came from Weiss' bed. "Good night."

* * *

_When_ Ruby awoke she wasn't in her bed or even in the room. She stood in a vast, dark forest that seemed to stretch on for miles around her. And even worse, she didn't have Crescent Rose. She spun around slowly, taking in the forest around her. It wasn't like any forest she had ever seen. The trees were all far too tall and far too thin with needles instead of leaves. Sure she had seen a tree or two like that, but an entire forest? Never.

She was beginning to shiver when she noticed a light in the distance. Maybe it was someone who could help her. Cautiously, Ruby made her way to the light. Eventually it came in view. A house.

It was a small, squat house with decaying shingles and dilapidated shutters. The paint had cracked and flaked away, and vines had begun to take it's place. A rough path full of weeds led to the door. In it's hay day the house may have been impressive but now it stood there, a ghastly shell of it's former self, the hollow remnant that stood foreboding before the young huntress.

Quietly, she approached the door. It, like the rest of the house was old, and cracked. Steeling her will, she knocked.

There was a moment's silence before the sound of foot steps approached the door. Soon someone opened it. A man stood there, as derelict as the building and covered in blood.

"Welcome Young miss, we were just about to sit down for dinner."

* * *

_Ruby_ awoke suddenly and bolted upright her heart racing. "It was just a dream. Just a dream. It was just a dream. I'm not scared."

A gust of wind caused the window to shudder.

"Ah!" Ruby jumped. "Okay, maybe I'm a little scared." She hopped down from her bed and approached Weiss. "Weiss." She whispered. The platinum haired girl didn't stir. "Weiss." A little louder this time. The heiress scrunched up her face. "Weiss" Even louder this time.

"What?" She snapped, sitting up.

"I... I had a bad dream..." Ruby said, staring at the floor. "Can I sleep in your bed tonight?"

"Then bother Yang, she's your sister."

"I know... but she's really warm and it makes it hard to sleep."

"Fine, but only for a little bit." She begrudgingly moved to the side to allow the younger girl to climb in.

"Thanks Weiss."

"You're welcome."

* * *

_She_ knew this place. She had seen it ten thousand times. She hated this place. Weiss Schnee would never admit it to anyone but she hated scary stories, they always managed to frighten her. But it was hard to blame her. Growing up in an empty, cold mansion that had stood for a hundred years of creaking and groaning. All the things this house had seen, she didn't want to imagine. She had lived in the mansion all her life, watching unnatural shadows dance around it's cavernous rooms as the curtains swayed and the walls creaked. Sometimes it seemed she would go days without hearing anything besides the creaking, the incessant, ever present creaking and groaning of the ancient home. It drowned out the moaning of the wind, it drowned out the crackling of the fireplace. It frightened her, ever since she was a little girl the house had always frightened her. Over time the reasons changed, but she never forgot the creaking. The cacophonous creaking.

The huntress thought she had put it all behind her. But here it was again, the ancient halls and a distant creaking. It came from in front of her, somewhere down this distant hallway. She wouldn't, she couldn't go after it. She turned around, there was no way she would act the part of the frightened child, she was past this whole being scared non... sense...

She froze in terror. Behind her stood a being beyond anything she had ever witnessed. It stood there, empty eyes staring at her, its hideous face frozen into an even more hideous smile.

She didn't stop to think, she merely ran, as fast as she could, faster than she could ever remember, towards the darkness that loomed ahead of her, towards the creaking that grew louder and more numerous. The creaks came faster from all around her, growing more and more diverse until an orchestra of sounds bombarded her, growing faster and louder, faster and louder, faster and louder until it reached a fever pitch and she found herself standing on the precipice before the darkness that stretched in front of her. The last thing she heard was a booming laughter unlike any.

* * *

_Weiss_ woke with a start to Ruby shaking her awake, her heart hammering in her chest.

"I had another bad dream." She quietly said. "Weiss?"

The heiress didn't answer, staring blankly in front of her.

"Weiss?"

A branch tapped against the window. They both jumped, clutching each other. After a moment they seperated.

"Are you scared too?" Ruby asked.

"O-of course I'm not s-sc-scared." Weiss snapped. "Now come on." She stood up, dragging Ruby up with her. She crossed the room over to Blake's bed. She unceremoniously shook her awake.

"Weiss? Ruby? What are you two doing? I'm trying to sleep."

"Ruby had a bad dream because of the story you read her, now she's bothering me." Weiss did her best to keep her heart beat calm, which was still a challenge.

"Weiss had one too..." Ruby added.

"I did not, the branch just startled me."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Well you're both not going to fit on my bed. Here." She took her pillows and blankets from her bed and threw them in the centre of the room. "Grab yours too."

They did the same.

The black haired huntress carefully crafted the bedding into what looked like a nest big enough for three and climbed in, beckoning for the other two. Ruby climbed in immediately, curling up beside Blake. Weiss stepped in after her, with some trepidation, laying down on the faunus' other side.

"Can you tell us a story? A nice one this time."

"Of course I can Ruby. One upon a time..."

* * *

**I came up with this idea and it amused me, so I wrote it. It's kind of weird, but I hope you liked it. The story Blake read is a real story by the way, The Picture in the House by HP Lovecraft, if you like horror I fully recommend it. Anyways see you next time boys and girls, Theeubernoob out.**


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